Question of the Day

Friday, October 05, 2007

What single development do you think made the biggest impact on the news industry?

"It's a jump ball between the telegraph and Internet. Both resulted in profound change. The telegraph sped up the news, and of course now with the Internet it's instantaneous. We're seeing a change in how people want their news. It's a broad sweep of history, so it's hard to choose just one."

Thursday, October 04, 2007

"A federal shield law would make a great difference for reporters in a free society where we serve as a watchdog for government. And that information comes in a wide variety of ways and there are people in positions with information who can provide insight about what government is really doing and provide documents that may suggest the government isn't doing the kind of job it needs to do. And, well, those people need to be protected and reporters need to be able to protect their sources. Federal shield laws would go a long way to provide additional insulation from the powers that be and that's an important part of our mission under the First Amendment."Ken Paulson, editor of the USA TODAY

"A federal shield law would be great. It would really help give us the protection that we need to go out and get stories without having to be worried about being hauled off to court. I really hope it goes through Congress. It's long overdue."

"We have a good shield law in Alabama, but there really needs to be a federal shield law. There's no reason why reporters should be held in contempt of court for simply doing their job, which is being a watchdog on government and the federal government needs a watchdog." Chuck Clark, associate managing editor of the Birmingham (Ala.) News

"Well, it would do several things. First of all, it would mean that Arkansas' shield law would be absolutely worthless if we find ourselves in federal court. Secondly, it means we would have at least some way to protect whistle-blowers and anonymous sources for stories that really need to be told that can't be told without offering them some protection. Twenty-nine states have shield laws and why the federal government doesn't have one yet, I don't know. But I will ask."David Bailey, managing editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette